The invention relates to a hand plane, in particular to a hand plane machine designed as an electric hand machine tool. In general, the hand plane is provided with an arrangement for adjusting the planing depth by adjusting the contact surface lying in front of the tool element of the hand plane machine, and which arrangement allows the reading of the adjusted planing depth. Such hand planes are already known, for example from the European patent application No. 0048304 or from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 3,025,797. In the DE-OS No. 3,025,797, the adjusting arrangement includes a rotatable adjusting handle which is connected to the tool element via an adjusting spindle and simultaneously has a curved body whose curved path surrounds helically or screw-shaped the rotational axis over an angle of more than 360.degree.. The adjustment arrangement further includes a curve sensor which is connected to a movable indicator which together with a further indicator provides the adjustment of the tool element.
The adjustment arrangements in both applications are rather complicated and cumbersome when being sufficiently stable and readable in a sufficient manner. Upon rotatable adjusting handles which have an adjusting range below 360.degree., a steep thread is necessary for providing exact readability of the adjusted planing depth. This has the disadvantage that an increased force is necessary for adjusting and, nevertheless, the adjustment is less steady due to the decreasing automatic locking of the steep thread. Rotatable adjusting handles having an adjusting range over 360.degree. are more stable, requiring however an increased provision of indicating means in order to provide an accurate indication. Finally, the effective limitation of the planing depth by a stop member requires additional measures.